10 Year Award – Award of Excellence: Hegau Tower, Singen

Clean Lines, Core Principles, and Forward-Looking Innovation

Simplicity of form and selective use of materials emphasizes the fundamental design idea behind Hegau Tower – to formulate a clear statement of Modernism. The building’s components, structure and envelope, as well as the users and their activities within, are clearly legible through the transparent façades. The southwest-facing façade expands beyond the building volume vertically and horizontally. The screens form one continuous glass sheet along the forecourt, connecting both the low and high building components into one.

Hegau Tower is notable for its ability to offer strategic opacity as well as transparency; it was the first large-scale application of a novel shading screen. The façade module of 2.7 meters provides a generous ambiance of space. A windproof, exterior automatic operable sunshade on the southwest façade allows for reduction of solar loads along with automatic interior perforated louvers on the other three façades. The exterior sunshade is a retractable curtain of stainless steel bars. Either by sensors or the user’s command, the sunshade covers the entire façade, reducing the solar load to a minimum while still providing a visual connection to the outside.

The façade becomes an integral part of the structure and technology of the building and a direct expression of the economic and ecological goals set forth in its design. The building’s appearance consequently is in keeping with the urbanistic, aesthetic and technological relevance of the project for the city, region and the time of its inception; its adherence to core Modernist principles renders it timeless.